Artist is a person who by definition has developed special sensitivity in terms of the world around and the one who strives to make personal expressions on canvas about the reality. Painters are artists who depict their reality on canvas and make their own personal impressions about how they see or feel about objects, people, and events. Therefore, paintings are way of self-expression to a painter. In order to be more successful in painting art the artists have to achieve that feeling of unique expression, leaving an original impression on the audience that will see their paintings when exhibited.

What defines success?

The definition of success is that there is no special formula for success except the unconditional acceptance of life and what it brings to us. Also, success is an idea strongly connected to each personality separately. There is not only one true formula that applies for each of us, it is rather individual call for each person. When it comes to artists in general, the success is highly relative concept. It is highly personalized and sometimes extremely subjective to express. Not necessarily having a degree is a sure way to success or needed precondition to become a distinguished painter since artists have inborn talent to paint. It is a gift of energy and inspiration that feeds their imagination to the fullest in the creation process of art. Imagination is what the painters mostly dwell upon in a creative process; it is like a source of energy that they inhale, creating a mental image in their heads which then is transformed in a form of art.

However, some points can be stated that define what makes an artist- a painter, a successful in their profession.

Natural Genius

You must be lucky if you do possess natural or inborn gene for painting. You have to be pretty fantastic and gifted in what you are doing in order to be recognized by the public. Painters who possess this natural talents in creation of their works probably feel more confident about their work. This, of course does not necessarily implies they do not need motivation, but what’s the use of motivation if you do not have any talents. Then we come to the question are painters born or made? Can anyone learn how to draw paintings or it cannot be learnt at all? Is a world famous pianist born to play the most perfect composition? The possible answer would be that you learn and make yourself better to perfection which involves a lot of work and commitment. The painter may have some genius initial idea and mental image of what he/she wants to paint but they usually spent countless hours painting in their studio playing with mew techniques and trying new methods. Even creativity can be learnt, but we can surely say that it is not a mechanical thing to learn.

Painter’s personality

In the words of Vincent van Gogh and how he defined painting we come to understanding that he dreamt his paintings and then he painted his dreams. Moreover, he believed that paintings have their own existence and life which derives from the painter’s soul. This reveals to us that painters are highly sensitive, perceptive and esoteric beings and they cannot make real distinction between art and real life and they more often are like cosmic wanderers searching for their muse and inspiration. Painters often are absent minded, even to some extent, antisocial when creation process is in progress. They can isolate in their art studios and spend time, usually not wanting to be disturbed. Trying to communicate with them sometimes would be impossible since this is their intimate time when they release their creative energy on canvas. This isolation can sometimes be perceived as an intimate conversation they have with them and their paintings, because paintings to them are what human being are to us. Paintings have soul and life just the same as every living being and they are treating them as such.

Understanding of one’s own self or self-knowledge is of great importance when any profession is concerned. If a painter knows what his/her truly nature is, they can be more convincing in painting their paintings. In general, painters love truth and create truth through their paintings. There is no need of feeling of fear or running away from what truly lies beneath your appearance, there is nothing wrong in revealing the truth, true emotions ( pleasant of unpleasant no matter, as long as they are real) and all these again, confirms the idea that painters avoid being dishonest in their work. Even the most miserable and hideous nature sometimes can make beautiful art. Most desperate souls can produce the most elevated poem or music. Art is simply all about magic and artists are magicians.

Education and Social Context

Nowadays there are plenty of possibilities to become an educated professional painter. There are many art schools as well as colleges and universities that offer bachelor’s and master’s programs in painting which are designed to develop painting skills and where they can get solid knowledge of art in general. Education gives some sort of basis for a painters but it is through their work and motivation that they can achieve their life achievements. It well can be assumed that education does not have to be a preliminary condition for becoming a successful painter. On the contrary, much of the time they are self independent learners and master the techniques and skills through inner insight and their own research.

The final destination of any painter or a painter artist is presentation of their works to the public. Painters have to make their own exhibitions and display their paintings in art galleries or museums, but they also can be hired to paint portraits which is of course a great achievement. Some of them may find themselves in a role of art educators who transfer their knowledge to other art lovers.

In building their personal career path the most successful ones are very much aware of the importance of the concept of self-discipline, self- control, self- restraint and self-sacrifice. Besides this they have to be skilful managers of their own time and use their resources (intellectual and material) wisely. In order to become more established and recognized in a social context, they first of all have to develop interpersonal skills as well, because their work revolves around contacts with other people. Importance of planning and organizational skills in terms of how they manage their time is very important aspect of becoming a successful painter.

Conclusion

There are two worlds existing as parallel universes on Earth: one is for common people, also called common mortals and the other one is for the artists. The universe of artists is full of imagination and visual images as their personal expressions and it often connects to the concept of sublime, unreal, eternal and genuine. There is no other copy similar or resembling this world, it is simply a creation out of its own and a product of art itself. In this context, it is useful to mention William Blake’s works and how he produced his art masterpieces. Blake’s profession was engraving, and his principal avocation was painting in watercolours, but he wrote poetry since boyhood and what makes him unique is the use of technology for his poems on illuminated printing. He was never a success during his lifetime, but his ideas and works became widely recognized after his death. Therefore, when speaking about success and art in general, they very often do not go along simultaneously. However, artistic success hugely depends on inspiration and imaginative mind that knows no boundaries.